Improvement in mowing-machines



' `w'.` N; WHITELEY.

V Mnwing-Maehines. 10.154,936.

Patented Sept. 8,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

WILLIAM N. WHITELEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOWING-MACHINES.`

Specification formingpart of Letters Patent No. 154,936, dated September8, 1874; application filed May 26, '1874.

, vesting-machines wherein the points of the cutting apparatus arecapable of adjustment up or down to adapt them to the condition of thegrass or grain against which they are to act 5 and it consists,principally, of a shoe at the inner end of the cutting apparatus, hingedat its rear end to a drag-bar, and provided with a lever, whereby itsfront end may-be raised or lowered, and a holding device or keeper, solocated that the relative adjustment of said shoe to said drag-bar willnot be chan ged by the rising or falling of the cutting apparatus as itadvances over the undnlations of the ground.

That others may fully understand my invention, I will particularlydescribe it.

The main frame is mounted upon driving and supporting wheels, and bearsthe gearing necessary to transmit the motion of said driving-wheels tothe cutting apparatus and raking mechanism.

A is the inner shoe, to which is securely bolted the linger-bar B of thecutting apparatus. The drag-bar O extends beneath the shoe A, and ishinged to the same at its rear, and said hinge is conveniently formed byturning the extremity of said drag-bar over a horizontal pin, p, whichforms the pintle' of the hinge, the ends of said pin being held in lugsmade on the rear end of said shoe for that purpose. To the front end ofthe shoe A a lever, D, is secured, and said lever extends forward overthe drag-bar to a point where it can be reached by the drivers hand, sothat he can raise or lower the front end of the shoe A, and thus adjustthe position of the points of the fingers and cutters. A latch, E,operated by a thumb-piece, F, land spring G, is attached to said leverD, and engages with a segment-rack or keeper, H, to hold said lever atthe desired point as to elevation.

The segment H may be a cast plate, to be secured to the drag-bar,preferably immediately in front of the point of the shoe A, andconstructed with a vertical slot, wherein said point may rest, orthrough which the lever D may pass to serve as a. guide for the frontend of said shoe, and to support it against the lateral strain producedby the resistance to the advance of the cutting apparatus.

This improvement is adaptedto machines for eitherreaping or mowing. Whenemployed for reaping, the raking mechanism will be mounted upon the shoeA, so as to partake of all its movements.

In addition to the facility of adjusting the points of the cutters andguards, this device serves to keep the cutters and guards in fixedrelation to the drag-bar and surface of the ground, said relation beingunaffected by the rising or falling of the cutting apparatus as itpasses over the ground.

This is not the efeet in those machines wherein the adjustment of thepoints of the guards is effected by a lever situated upon the main frameindependent of the drag-bar, because the movements of the cuttingapparatus lare not in correspondence with the movements of the saidframe, and, therefore, there will be no fixed relation between thelingers andeutters and the drag-bar.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new is- The shoe A,having the lever D rigidly attached to its front end, said leverprovided with a latch, E, in combination with the dragbar C, having thenotched and slotted segment H, to guide the shoe and maintain the samein adjustment upon the drag-bar, substantially as set forth.

W. N. WHITELEY. Witnesses:

W. A. SCOTT, E. S. KELLY.

